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Dollars & Sense Peter Watson Guest Contributor 17 | Thursday, July 10, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com THE GREAT GARDEN EVENT Our 4 week summer sale where the savings get bigger each week! Shop early for the largest selection. Can you afford to wait? O Tax-effective investing ver the years, it has been interesting to hear how people talk about income taxes. Taxes affect everyone differently. People are critical about income taxes taking up too much of their earnings. Many recent graduates complain about high taxes while they are struggling to pay off student debt. Some income earners might invest in risky tax shelter investments to reduce their income tax liability. They will quickly purchase an investment they ordinarily would never have considered, for the sole purpose of lowering their taxes. To get elected, political parties often position themselves as the party that will keep income tax low. Lower taxes are attractive to voters and often result in the creation or expansion of businesses, which may lead to an increase in jobs. When people are discussing their nancial planning and investment objectives, the subject of being more tax effective comes up frequently. They have the perception that others have strategies to pay less income tax and they want the same advantage. Often in life, it is the simple things that make the most sense. Tax planning is a good example of doing the simple things well in order to reduce your income tax liability. The easiest solution for lowering your taxes is to properly design your investment portfolio. This is an area in which most investors are unsuccessful. The rst part to designing an investment portfolio is determining the asset allocation between stocks and bonds. That decision is a trade-off between how much risk you are comfortable with and should take to achieve your objective. The riskier asset class is stocks. They have a higher degree of volatility than bonds and will most likely have a greater return over the long-term. Assume your decision is to invest 60 per cent in stocks and 40 per cent in bonds. That is a start but it is only half of the process. The nal part is organizing those investments to be tax-effective with the result of achieving the lowest amount of tax to be paid. This is a fairly simple exercise. Stocks pay dividends and have the potential for capital gains. Dividend income and capital gains see Review on p.18 60% OFF July 10th - 16th FINAL WEEK FLOWERING TREES AND STANDARDS · FLOWERING SHRUBS · ANNUALS · PERENNIALS · LANTERNS PLANTERS · HANGING BASKETS · OUTDOOR POTTERY · HOME DÉCOR · PATIO FURNITURE · ROSES VINES · UMBRELLAS · 10" TROPICAL PLANTS · DOOR MATS · EVERGREENS · ANNUAL GRASSES DOOR CRASHERS $29.99 Fri. July 11th PG Hydrangea Tree 7 Gal. Only 75 per store. Reg. $89.99 $6.99 Sat. July 12th 10"Vinca Hanging Basket Only 300 per store. Reg. $19.99 $8.99 Sun. July 13th 10"Hydrangea Annual Planter Only 200 per store. Reg. $29.99 $7.99 Mon. July 14th Rudbeckia Goldsturm 2 Gal. Only 200 per store. Reg. $19.99 Looking for inspiration? Plant identification & placement, soil & planting preparation, new plant material, shopping tips... the TERRA Landscape Coach can help! Call to book an appointment today. OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK: Mon. - Fri. 8am - 8pm, Sat. & Sun. 8am - 6 pm All items while quantities last, subject to availability. Category offers exclude "TERRA Essentials" Sale period: July 10th - 16th Burlington (905) 332-3222 · Milton (905) 876-4000 · Waterdown (905) 689-1999 ·Vaughan (905) 832-6955 NEW LOCATION - Hamilton - 340 Highway #20, RR#1 (3 minutes east of Upper Centennial) (905) 692-6900 www.terragreenhouses.com